Im in the same boat- pet store stuff scares me. Not to mention they sell pets, pets with potential disease, just pets in cages, ick. I cant handle it.
For Toys, I make most of mine:
I do origami with palm fronds
Hemp or seagrass woven with 'found' objects hidden in it and sea shells hanging off that 'jingle' like a little rattle.
And most of the time I just use flowers and hide nuts or seeds in the petals/blossoms.
So when I buy things- its usually raw materials that I cant easily find outside (like Sola or balsa wood, loofa, etc). But its definately better to suport AA members than those nasty box stores. IMO.